SCP-NPM SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM) Exam Questions and Answers

Universal Device Pollers (UnDPs) are custom pollers that allow you to monitor specific aspects of your network devices using SNMP. You can apply UnDPs to any object type that supports SNMP polling, such as interfaces, nodes, and volumes. You cannot apply UnDPs to applications, because they are not SNMP-based objects. Applications are monitored using Application Performance Monitor (APM), which uses different methods, such as WMI, scripts, or agents, to collect data. References: Monitor custom statistics based on OIDs with Universal Device Pollers in NPM, Assign Universal Device Pollers to devices monitored in NPM, Add and assign Universal Device Pollers

Orion agents are software components that you can install on nodes to collect and send data to the Orion server. Orion agents do not require a separate license, as they are included in the license of the Orion Platform product that you are using, such as NPM. You can install and use as many agents as you need, as long as you do not exceed the number of licensed nodes, interfaces, or volumes for your product. Orion agents can use either agent-initiated or server-initiated communication, depending on your network configuration and security requirements. References: NPM Administrator Guide, page 67; SCP Study Aid - NPM, page 15.

When you create or edit an alert, you can test the trigger and reset actions by clicking Simulate next to the action you want to test. This will execute the action regardless of the trigger condition. You can also select an object to resolve any variables you have used in your action. For example, if your action is to send an email with the node name and status, you can select a node to see how the email will look like. This way, you can ensure the trigger actions you set on an alert will work as expected. References: Test alert triggers and actions in the SolarWinds Platform, How to Create Intelligent Alerts with NPM, How alerts work.

 Map status thresholds determine how the status of a map is calculated based on the status of its child objects. If you set the map status threshold to above 50%, it means that the map will be up if more than half of its child objects are up, regardless of the severity of the down objects. This can cause a situation where half of your objects in a nested map are down, but the top level map is up, because the top level map only considers the status of the nested maps, not the individual objects within them. To avoid this, you can lower the map status threshold to a value that reflects the desired level of availability for your network, or use custom map status thresholds to specify different values for different maps. References: Set map status thresholds in NPM, Create nested maps in NPM, How to map through a deeply nested array of objects?

According to the SolarWinds NPM Administrator Guide, custom charts are created using the Orion Web Console and are not compatible with Excel file formats. Therefore, the only option to export a report with custom charts is to use a PDF format. Other report formats, such as HTML, CSV, or TXT, are supported for reports without custom charts. References: SolarWinds NPM Administrator Guide, page 171; Export reports to Excel - Forum, reply by ElisabethZakes; How to Export NPM Report Writer Data to Excel (xls or csv)??? - Forum, reply by borgan.

 Packet loss is a measure of how many packets are lost or discarded during transmission over a network. Packet loss can cause network performance issues such as slow response time, jitter, and degraded voice quality. NPM can monitor packet loss on nodes and interfaces using ICMP ping or SNMP statistics. You can review the packet loss metrics on the Node Details or Interface Details views, or create a custom chart or report to compare packet loss across multiple nodes or interfaces. By reviewing the packet loss on the nodes on either side of the connection, you can identify which node or interface is experiencing the problem and troubleshoot the root cause. You can also use the Performance Analysis dashboard (PerfStack) to correlate packet loss with other metrics such as response time, CPU load, memory usage, buffer misses, and interface errors123. References:

• Monitor packet loss in NPM - SolarWinds
• Troubleshoot intermittent network slowdowns with NPM - SolarWinds
• SCP Study Aid - SolarWinds (page 9)

An agent is a software component that you can install on a node to collect and send data to the Orion server. Agents are useful when you need to monitor nodes that are behind firewalls, in the cloud, or have overlapping IP addresses. Agents can also provide more detailed information about the node’s performance and status than SNMP or WMI. Agents can use either agent-initiated or server-initiated communication, depending on your network configuration and security requirements. References: NPM Administrator Guide, page 67; SCP Study Aid - NPM, page 15.

Capacity usage trends are calculated based on historical data. By default, the longest time period taken into account for calculating the capacity forecast is 180 days. The more historical data up to 180 days are available, the more precise is the calculated forecast. Forecast calculation methods include peak calculation and average calculation, which can be set globally or customized for individual objects. Capacity forecasting is available for nodes, interfaces, and volumes that meet certain requirements, such as being managed in NPM and having enough historical data in the database. References: Monitor capacity usage trends on the network and forecast capacity issues in NPM, Forecast capacity for nodes, interfaces, or volumes in NPM, Real-Time Network Monitoring Tool

The Discovery Ignore List is a feature that allows you to specify the IP addresses or hostnames of the devices that you do not want to monitor or discover in the future. You can add devices to the ignore list manually or automatically during the discovery process. Once a device is added to the ignore list, it will be skipped by any subsequent discovery. You can also remove devices from the ignore list if you change your mind and want to monitor them later. References: Add devices to the Discovery Ignore List in NPM, Remove devices from the Discovery Ignore List in NPM, How to View Devices on Your Windows Network and What to Do If You Can’t See Them

When a router monitored by NPM reboots, the interface indexes may change, causing the interface statuses to become unknown in NPM. This is because NPM uses the interface indexes to identify and poll the interfaces. To resolve this issue, you need to remove the unknown interfaces from NPM and then run a list of resources on that node to discover the interfaces with the new index IDs. You can then add the interfaces back to NPM and resume monitoring them. References:

• Allow Change the Interface Index - Forum - Network Performance Monitor (NPM) - THWACK Products
• Edit interface properties in NPM - SolarWinds
• SCP Study Aid - SolarWinds (page 6)

To allow the finance department to view select reports from NPM without a user account, you can enable the Link only option on the report. This option allows you to generate a direct link to the report that can be shared with anyone who has access to the Orion Web Console URL, even if they do not have a user account or login credentials. The Link only option also bypasses any report limitations or account restrictions that might apply to the report. To enable the Link only option on a report, you need to edit the report and select the Link only option in the Report Properties page. You can then copy the link and send it to the finance department via email or other methods. The finance department can then view the report by clicking the link and opening it in a web browser1. References: Share a web-based report with non-Orion Platform users

 If you want to see a statistic that NPM does not support out of the box, you can use the Manage Pollers feature in Device Studio or the Universal Device Pollers (UnDP) feature to collect the statistics you want from the device. Both features allow you to create custom monitors for almost any statistic provided by SNMP based on its Management Information Base (MIB) and object identifier (OID). You can also assign the custom pollers to specific devices, view the polled data in the Orion Web Console, and use the data in alerts and reports. The difference between the two features is that Manage Pollers is a web-based interface that simplifies the creation and management of custom pollers, while UnDP is a standalone application that offers more advanced options and flexibility. Device templates and application monitor templates are not features that can be used to collect custom statistics from devices, as they are predefined sets of monitors for specific device types or applications that NPM supports out of the box. References:

• Define a custom statistic to monitor in the NPM
• Manage pollers using Device Studio
• [Monitor custom statistics based on OIDs with Universal Device Pollers]

 The Universal Device Poller (UnDP) is a feature that allows users to create custom monitors for almost any statistic provided by SNMP based on its Management Information Base (MIB) and object identifier (OID). However, sometimes the OID that the user wants to monitor may not be available in the MIB tree, either because it is not supported by the device or because the MIB database is outdated. In this case, the user needs to update the MIB database to get the latest MIBs from the SolarWinds website or from the device vendor. This will ensure that the UnDP can find the OID in the MIB tree and poll it successfully12. References: 1: Update the SolarWinds MIB Database for the SolarWinds Platform3, 2: Monitor custom statistics based on OIDs with Universal Device Pollers in the SolarWinds Platform

One possible reason why you have not received any emails for the high CPU load alert is that the alerts are muted on the devices. Muting alerts means that the alert conditions are still evaluated, but the alert actions are not executed. This can be useful when you want to temporarily suppress notifications for planned maintenance or testing. You can mute alerts for individual nodes, groups, or applications, or for all alerts in the Orion Platform. To check if the alerts are muted on the devices, you can go to the Manage Nodes page and look for the Muted column. You can also use the Mute Alerts widget on the Orion homepage to see the status of alert muting. To unmute alerts, you can either use the same widget or the Unmute Alerts option in the node, group, or application details page. References: Mute alerts, Manage nodes, Mute Alerts widget

 Device Studio Poller is a feature that allows users to create custom pollers for devices or technologies that are not supported by default in NPM. It can poll multiple OIDs for a given technology, perform logical operations or transformations on the polled data, and display the polled values in existing resources. However, it does not collect data from Orion Failover Engine or Hot Standby Engines, which are features of Orion High Availability that ensure continuous monitoring in case of primary server failure12. References: 1: Create pollers in Device Studio for NPM3, 2: When Good OIDs Go Bad: Customizing Device Pollers, 3: Manage Pollers (AKA Device Studio) question

NPM provides a default report called Top 25 Interfaces by Percent Utilization that shows the interfaces with the highest average utilization over the selected time period1. This report can be easily edited to change the number of interfaces displayed, the time period, the sorting order, the layout, and the filters2. To create a report that shows the top 50 interfaces by percent utilization, you can simply edit this report and change the Limit option from 25 to 503. This is the most time-efficient way to create the report, as it does not require creating a new report from scratch, writing a SQL query, or running the report multiple times for different timeframes. References: 1: Network Performance Monitor Administrator Guide - Top 25 Interfaces by Percent Utilization 2: Network Performance Monitor Administrator Guide - Edit a report 3: Network Performance Monitor Getting Started Guide - Customize a report

Orion Maps 2.0 supports displaying Palo Alto firewalls as network devices, along with their interfaces, zones, policies, and traffic data. You can also view the firewall status, alerts, and events on the map. To add a Palo Alto firewall to an Orion Map, you need to have Network Insight for Palo Alto enabled in NPM, and discover the firewall using SNMP and API polling. References: Orion Maps 2.0, New Alerting, and Palo Alto Networks Monitoring - SolarWinds Lab Episode #77, SolarWinds Lab Episode 77: Orion Maps 2.0, New Alerting, and Palo Alto Networks Monitoring - Orange Matter, Network Insight for Palo Alto Networks in NPM

One possible reason for not being able to show the polled results as charts on the Orion Web Console is that you did not set the poller to collect historical statistics. Historical statistics are required for displaying charts and gauges in the web console, as they provide the data points for plotting the trends and values over time. If you only set the poller to collect current statistics, you will only be able to view the polled results as tables or lists in the web console. To set the poller to collect historical statistics, you need to edit the poller and select the Keep Historical Data option in the Poller Properties page. You can also specify the retention settings for the historical data, such as the frequency and duration of data collection and storage1. References: Create a custom poller

The Universal Device Poller (UnDP) is a feature of SolarWinds NPM that allows you to create custom monitors for almost any statistic provided by SNMP based on its Management Information Base (MIB) and object identifier (OID). An OID is a unique identifier for a variable that can be polled or set via SNMP. The UnDP retrieves management data in the OID format from the devices that support SNMP. The other formats (WMI, XML, ANSI 1) are not used by the UnDP. References:

• Monitor custom statistics based on OIDs with Universal Device Pollers
• NPM Universal Device Pollers